Historic Midland

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Far left: Mrs. John House, Mrs.
Marvin Ulmer, Mrs. Madeleine
Martin and Mrs. Bertha Kinney enjoy
refreshments at “The Last Round Up
At The Scharbauer” on July 15, 1973,
a party originating with Nancy R.
McKinley to say ‘goodbye’ to the
famous landmark as it was imploded
in November, 1973.
drilling of Columbus M. “Dad” Joiner’s Daisy
Bradford well and subsequent oil finds in that
part of the state contributed significantly to the
slowdown of oil drilling activity in West Texas.
Building construction in Midland stopped,
and oil companies that had once flocked to the
oil center pulled out in 1932 and 1933. In fact,
Sen. Hogan lost his building as the oil companies
pulled out. “Hogan’s Folly,” as his building
once had been known, was three-quarters
empty during those bleak years.
In 1934, however, the Depression essentially
ended when oil companies—responding to regulation
of oil production by the Texas Railroad
Commission, beginning in 1933, and the federal
government’s placement of a tariff on foreign
oil to discourage dumping on the American
market—began drilling again. Ten new oil fields
were discovered in the Permian Basin in 1934
and fifteen the following year. The Goldsmith
field, located in northwest Ector County and
owned by the Scharbauer family, by 1939 had
production second only to the Yates field in the
Permian Basin.
The increased drilling brought oil companies
back to Midland. One was Humble Company,
which, in 1935, moved its headquarters and
more than 70 houses from McCamey to Midland
for its employees. That was necessary due to a
severe shortage of housing in Midland during
that time.
One of the primary leaders of Midland in that
day was Marvin C. Ulmer, an officer with First
National Bank who would be elected president
of that institution after Clarence Scharbauer’s
death in 1942. Together, Ulmer and Clarence
Scharbauer had worked not only to acquire
good housing for oil company employees, but
also to have Midland selected as the site for the
Army Air Force Bombardier Training School.
That facility, which opened in February
1942, was critical to the war effort. Between
April 1942 and January 1945, cadets flying
Beech AT-11s flew 861,510 hours and dropped
1,245,107 bombs. The training facility was the
largest in the world.
Following the war years, Sloan Field—as the
training facility was known—became a firstclass
civilian airport for Midland. Buildings at
the site, however, were moved for use as a city
auditorium, emergency housing and school
classrooms.
Anticipating the coming growth, First
National Bank in 1936 had remodeled its building
and started construction on an eight-story
tower. The growth came and by the end of
World War II, Midland had been enjoying
steady growth for a decade. In 1945 the city’s
population stood at 14,000.
Although many anticipated a decline in oil
demand following the war, that slump did not
occur. What did occur was a period of unprecedented
growth—growth that pushed Midland
into the status of a city.
Ironically, although Midland had developed
and reaped the benefits of the oil industry, the
town had never experienced an oil boom of its
own. West Texas was pock-marked with oil discoveries—except
for Midland County. That all
changed between 1945 and 1951 with the devel-
Left: Midland squaredancers entertain
guests gathered at “The Last Round
Up.”
Discovery of Oil Made Midland | 49